CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik responds to İhsan Aktaş's 'irregular allocation' claim: He provided the date of entry into the inventory

Businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who provided an 'effective remorse' statement before the recent detentions targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and other CHP-run municipalities, claimed in his latest testimony that CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik used a vehicle that had been allocated irregularly. 

According to a report by Engin Deniz İpek from Cumhuriyet, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that the recent weekend detentions targeting the IMM and CHP-run municipalities were shaped by the statements of businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who has been in custody since January due to accusations regarding the Beşiktaş Municipality.

In the latest statement Aktaş gave on May 11 as part of effective remorse, an allegation was included that CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik had obtained a vehicle irregularly.

Stating that the vehicle in question entered the CHP inventory about 2 years before he was elected as Provincial Chair, Çelik spoke as follows:

“Aziz İhsan Aktaş claimed in his statement given as part of effective remorse that ‘a vehicle was allocated to Özgür Çelik.’ The Volkswagen Passat brand vehicle with license plate 06 CMN 251 mentioned in the individual's statement is not a vehicle provided to the provincial presidency by the relevant person or firm during my term as provincial chair. The vehicle in question was taken into the CHP Istanbul Provincial Presidency inventory with a contract signed by the provincial administration before me in August 2021. Furthermore, the vehicle was used by the protection police of our provincial chair at that time.

Stating that he never used the vehicle in question, Çelik used the following expressions:

"As stated in the testimony of the person named Aziz İhsan Aktaş, there is no vehicle allocated to me. There is a process regarding the renewal of a vehicle whose contract was made in 2021 due to the change in provincial chair. The vehicle in question was not used as an official car; after being used for 1 year by the protection police assigned to me by the state, it was returned to the relevant firm in January 2025."

News Source: 12punto